Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time;
wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light
what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives
of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his
praise from God.
-1 Corinthians 4:5

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Faith without works is dead

How would you go about winning over a heart? Is it with words that draws another closer, or is it more of our actions that speaks the loudest?

Today, I realized how hollow my faith is. I do a lot of talking but hardly any acting. I go to bible studies, apologetic classes, daily Masses, and talk all the time to my (Catholic) friends about my faith. I am missing a very important element of service. Praying and fellowship are very important and good, but I don’t want to lose sight of one of the main things Jesus called us to do. We must care for one another. That is people we don’t know. People we don’t like. People who aren’t like us, or that we can “relate” to very well. People who seem beyond help (in whatever capacity). I am called to love them. And I have failed miserably at that.

Jesus walked around and healed people, comforted them, and saved them. After Peter tells Jesus he loves him, Jesus tells Peter to feed and take care of his sheep. How much more evangelizing could we do if we actively loved undesirable people! Helping drunk homeless, hanging out with a bratty kid, collecting food, there is so many things that could show others Christ’s love, without us ever saying a word!

Oh, but how I would much rather walk around and talk to people about Jesus than actually being Jesus for others! Seeing the homeless, talking to the sick and lonely, providing for those who lost a lot in a disaster is hard and unattractive. It is something I avoid. And it’s a shame I’ve never been called out on it!

I’m writing about this because at my church’s student center we have very little opportunity to serve others (who aren’t our friends) and even less participation. I hope to change this. I can’t make excuses anymore about why I can’t do something. Anyone can always do something. I hide behind those excuses, because I didn’t really want to do it in the first place. So where does that leave my faith? It leaves it pretty fruitless.

Even sitting here writing about this, I realize, may be a waste of speech. But I hope it will keep me accountable in the next few months. If I go on talking about action, without action, I must either become silent, or “put my money where my mouth is”. I’m hoping for the latter. My faith is not empty and there is much work to do.

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St. Maximilian Kolbe

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I in no way dare to represent Catholic teaching. In fact I can barely make sentences out of my own thoughts. Any opinions expressed here are clearly my own, because otherwise they wouldn't be riddled with so much error.